On this page you can find more information on various names, locations,
and events (or as I put it: the
people, places, and politics) mentioned in my
Geoffrey
Chaucer chronology. Entries in each section are alphabetized, so
you can scroll down the page to find any item that interests you.
Clicking on any name in the left-hand column below will take you to
that entry's first appearance on the chronology website.

NOTE: I include people in the
first section only under the following conditions: 1. Chaucer (or his
wife) had a documented relationship and/or direct interactions with
them, or 2. They are contemporary figures whom Chaucer references in
his writings. Also note that the people listed here are not
"literary figures" (with the exception of Chaucer's friend John Gower,
the poet to whom I
dedicate a separate
website). The writers with
whom Chaucer had relationships (directly, in the case of Usk or
Deschamps, or more imaginatively, in the case of Dante and Petrarch)
all have
links on the main chronology page.

As I state on the chronology homepage, this is a continual
work-in-progress, so I will make updates and add new links from time to
time. If you see any omissions, errors, or inconsistencies, please contact me.

Daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV
(also known as Charles of Bohemia), Anne was born in 1366. She married King Richard II of England in 1382, and she
soon became a popular Queen. Contemporary accounts depict her as a
cultured, well-connected woman, and the
love between Anne and Richard was genuine. Chaucer's work is
sprinkled with references to Anne. Chaucer most likely wrote The
Legend of Good Women at her request, and Troilus and Criseyde
includes an oblique homage to the Queen ("Right as oure firste lettre
is now an A," I.171). Indeed, a famous frontispiece to Troilus depicts
Chaucer reading the work aloud to Anne and her court.
For more information on medieval Prague and Anne's cultural milieu, see
Anne's Bohemia by Alfred
Thomas (University of Minnesota Press,
1998).

Born in 1341 or 1345, Blanche married John of Gaunt in 1359. Their
union produced three children: Philippa, Elizabeth, and Henry (who later deposed Richard
II to become King Henry IV of England). In 1368 Blanche died of the plague. Most likely at
John's request, Chaucer wrote the beautiful dream-vision/elegy The
Book of the Duchess to commemorate her. The poem includes many puns
playing on the names of both Blanche ("goode faire White she het," 948)
and her husband John, who was the Earl of Richmond and Duke of
Lancaster ("A long castel with walles white,/Be Seynt Johan,
on a ryche hil," 1318-9).

Edward, commonly known as the
Black Prince (due to the color of his battle armor), was the eldest son
of King Edward III and the heir to his
father's
throne. Because he died in 1376--a year before his father--the crown
went to the next in line, the Black Prince's son Richard
(a product of his marriage to his cousin Joan of
Kent). While the Black Prince was
alive, he was revered as a great military figure. At the age of 16 he
led the English Army at the Battle of Crecy;
he was victorious at the Battle of Poitiers,
and he even captured the French King, John (Jean) the Good. He also
fought
at the Battle of Najera alongside Pedro of Castille. In 1359, Chaucer
participated in one of the Black Prince's military campaigns in France,
serving in a company led by Lionel, Duke of
Clarence (the Black Prince's brother).

Born Agnes Copton
(or Agnes de Copton), Geoffrey Chaucer's mother was the niece of the
London moneyer Hamo de Copton. After the death of Hamo's son and heir
Nicholas in 1349, Agnes became the heiress to Hamo's fortune. Since she
was married to John Chaucer by this
time, her husband gained the right to the properties formerly owned by
Hamo. After her husband died in 1366, she married a man named
Bartholomew Chappel. She died in 1381. See Crow and Olson, Chaucer Life-Records, pg. 7.

In addition to his sons Thomas and Lewis,
Geoffrey Chaucer might have had a daughter named Elizabeth
(probably born around 1364). In 1377, one "Elizabeth Chausier" entered
into the
convent of St. Helen's Priory in London. In
1381,
she was made a nun of Barking Abbey, London. There is also a 1397
record
of "Elizabeth Chausir" (identified in the document as a Barking nun)
taking a vow of obedience to a new abbess. See Crow and Olson, Chaucer
Life-Records, pp. 146-7.

John Chaucer, Geoffrey Chaucer's father, was a
London vintner (wine merchant) by trade. John's father, Robert (Malin
le) Chaucer, was also a London vintner, and his paternal grandfather
Andrew de Dinnington was perhaps a taverner. In 1349 John acquired
through his wife Agnes several properties
in London that had belonged to her
father. John's early life was tumultuous. In 1324 he was apparently
abducted from his home by several relatives who conspired to marry him
off to a cousin (all this had something to do with a family dispute
over John's inheritance from his father Robert). For more details on
John's
life, see Crow and Olson, Chaucer
Life-Records, pp. 2-7.

Little is known about Geoffrey Chaucer's son
Lewis. Chaucer addresses "litel Lowys my sone" in the Prologue to his Treatise
on an Astrolabe, and there is also a written record of a payment
made to Thomas and "Ludowicus" (Lewis)
Chaucer for their services as "homines ad arma" (men at arms) at the
royal castle of Carmathen in 1403. Other than that, there is not much
to go on. See Crow and Olson, Chaucer
Life-Records, pp. 544-5.

Born Philippa
Roet, Geoffrey Chaucer's wife was the second daughter of Paen
(Payne) de Roet, a Flemish
knight. Her elder sister was Katherine.
As a young woman, Philippa served alongside her husband Geoffrey in
various royal households. She began as a domicella (lady in
waiting)
in the Chamber of Queen Philippa and
she
later served under Constance of Castile.
Some scholars (including Jesus Serrano Reyes) suggest Philippa may have
died
in Spain while accompanying Constance on a journey.

Geoffrey Chaucer's eldest
son Thomas was born in 1367 and he appears a few times in the legal
record. In 1396 a London citizen sued "Thoma[s] Chaucer...filiu[s]
Galfridi Chaucer" to repay a certain debt he owed. In 1403 Thomas
received payment (along with his brother Lewis)
for his service as a man-at-arms. Thomas had a varied carrer. According
to Crow and
Olson, "he was not only a wealthy landed gentlman with large holdings"
but he was also a public official who once served as a sheriff, a
constable,
a member of Parliament, and speaker of the House of Commons (Chaucer
Life-Records, pg. 544). Thomas married Maud Burghersh in 1395
and their daughter Alice eventually became (through marriage) the
Duchess
of Suffolk.

Daughter of Pedro of
Castile, Constance (or Constanza) was born in 1354, and she married
John of Gaunt
in 1371. This was her first marriage and John's second, John's first
wife Blanche having died in 1368.
Chaucer's wife Philippa was a member
of Constance's entourage (she entered into her service in 1372, and she
may have died while accompanying her on a trip in Spain).
Constance herself died in 1394 at Leicester Castle. Although nobody is
sure, some now believe that the woman in the blue dress in this famous manuscript illustration
is Constance; she is part of the courtly audience listening to Chaucer
as he recites his poetry).

Ambitious, imposing (over
six feet tall with long red hair) and successful in war, Edward was a
popular king at the height of his reign. He ascended to the throne at
age 15 and married Philippa of Hainault
in 1328 (among their children were Edward,
Lionel, and John),
but it wasn't until 1330 that his reign truly began (he overthrew his
mother and her lover Roger Mortimer, who had held power together). In
1337, Edward claimed his right to the French throne and launched the Hundred Years' War between England and
France; he gained renown for his victories at the battles of Sluys (1340), Crecy
(1346) and Poitiers (1356). During his
reign, Parliament was separated for the first time into the House of
Lords and the House of Commons, and the merchant class grew in power.
Edward also introduced new
currency, systematized heraldric
arms, and established the Order of the Garter. The latter part of
Edward's reign saw the Black Death, and
Edward died
in 1377. (His ten-year-old grandson Richard II
ascended to the throne after him.) Chaucer served Edward III in a
variety
of ways. In 1360, Chaucer was captured by the French while serving as a
soldier; the King paid a ransom of 16 pounds for his release. In 1367,
Chaucer
became a squire in Edward's household, receiving an lifetime annuity of
20 pounds. At the Feast of the Garter in 1374, Edward granted Chaucer a
daily pitcher of wine (a royal sign of special favor).

Elizabeth (Esabetta) de Burgh, the heiress to
the Earl of Ulster, was born in 1332 and married Lionel, Duke of Clarence (the third son of
King Edward III and Queen Philippa) in 1342. In 1357,
Chaucer entered into Elizabeth's service as a page. In fact, the first
time Chaucer appears in any legal record
at all is in an Ulster household account listing various "purchaces of
clothing for Chaucer...and others, together with gifts of money, beds,
etc. to servants [who] brought letters or performed other services for
the countess" (Crow and Olson, Chaucer
Life-Records, pg. 16). The
Countess died in Dublin in 1363.

Also known as Giovanni Acuto, Sir John Hawkwood
(born in 1320 and died in 1394) was the captain of
English mercenaries operating in Italy during Chaucer's day. A member
of the Compagnia Bianca (the White Company, known for its shiny armor),
Hawkwood gained notoriety for leading night raids and his men were
greatly
feared (and admired, by some). Instead of remaining loyal to any
particular
ruler, Hawkwood gave his services to anyone who paid him enough.
Chaucer
met with Hawkwood and the Milan despot Bernabo
Visconti during a trip to Lombardy in
1378, although the exact purpose of the
mission remains uncertain. For more on Sir John Hawkwood, see David
Wallace, Chaucerian Polity
(Stanford University Press, 1997), pp. 33-40.

Henry Bolingbroke was born in 1367 and he was
the son of John of Gaunt and Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster. In
1387 Henry and a number of barons rebelled against Richard II, whose reign was growing
increasingly
unpopular. Calling themselves the Lords Appellant, the nobles held a
parliament
ordering the execution or banishment of many loyal to the King. Richard
regained control in 1389, and in 1397 he banished Henry to France. Upon
John of Gaunt's death in 1399, Richard seized Henry's inheritance.
Henry
promptly returned to England while Richard was away in Ireland, and
upon
Richard's return he claimed his rightful inheritance and demanded that
the King abdicate. Richard gave in, and Henry was crowned King with
Parliament's support. "The Complaint of Chaucer to His Purse,"
Geoffrey's witty and
politically-savvy plea for money, ends with high praise for the new
King:
"O conquerour of Brutus Albyon,/Which that by lyne and free
eleccion/Been
verray kyng, this song to yow I sende" (22-4).

Joan of Kent was also known as Joan Plantaganet,
the Princess of Wales, or "the Fair Maid of Kent." In 1361 she married
the Black Prince (her
cousin) and in 1367 she gave birth to the boy who would become King Richard II. As the mother of the young
monarch, Joan was a very influential figure in early part of Richard's
reign.
According to tradition, Joan was the extremely beautiful woman who
was the inspiration behind Edward III's
Order
of the Garter. Chaucer may have had some personal interaction with Joan
during his lifetime (many believe that a famous manuscript illustration
depicts her sitting in the audience
as Chaucer reads his poetry). In any case, Chaucer received mourning
garments
(including 3.5 ells of black cloth) for her funeral in 1385.

At the height of his carreer, John of Gaunt
essentially ruled England. He was at one point the most wealthy man in
England and, second to Richard II, the most
powerful. John, the fourth son of Edward
III and Philippa of Hainault,
was born in Ghent (Flanders) in 1340. In 1359
he
married Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster
and
acquired the title of Duke of Lancaster. Blanche died in 1368. He
married Constance (daughter of the
recently-killed Pedro of Castile) in 1371
and thereby gained a claim to the title of King of Castile and Leon (a
claim he unsuccessfully pursued). During his marriage to Constance, he
took a mistress, Katherine Swynford,
and many years after
Constance's death John married her. Through this third marriage, John
became
brother-in-law to Geoffrey Chaucer's wife (Katherine's sister Philippa had married Geoffrey many years
before). John was Geoffrey's patron throughout much of the poet's
career. He most likely had Chaucer write The Book of the Duchess
in honor of Blanche. In 1369, Chaucer served in John's army in France,
and in 1374 John granted Chaucer a lifetime annuity of 10 pounds. John
died in 1399 and his son Henry (a product of
his first marriage) became King.

Also known as Peter the Cruel, this Castilian
king had a reputation for ruthlessness. When his nobles rebelled
against him, he began to build alliances with important English royals.
He fought alongside the Black Prince at
the Battle of Najera in 1367, and his
daughter Constance married John of Gaunt (albeit two years after Pedro's
death). In 1369 Pedro was killed by his illegitimate half-brother,
Henry (Enrique) of Trastamara. As Chaucer writes in The Monk's Tale: "O noble, O worthy
Petro, glorie of Spayne...Thy bastard brother made the[e] to
flee....Thou were bitraysed and lad unto his tente,/Where as he with
his owene hand
slowe thee,/Succedynge in thy regne and in thy rente" (2375-82). For
more
on this stanza, see David Wallace, Chaucerian
Polity (Stanford,
1997), pp. 314-5.

Philippa of Hainault married King Edward III in 1328, and among their
12 children were Edward (the
Black Prince), Lionel,
Duke
of Clarence, and John of
Gaunt. She was known as a kind and tender woman, and she sometimes
acted as
Regent when Edward was away on the Continent. Chaucer's wife Philippa served for many years in the
Queen's household, and Geoffrey received mourning clothing upon the
monarch's death in 1369. Although Chaucer never explicitly mentions the
Queen in his works, Chaucer might have known of her intercession with
King Edward at Calais in 1347 (according to
French chronicler Jean Froissart, she begged him to spare the lives of
six burghers whom he had intended
to execute); this incident could have been the model for an episode in The Knight's Tale (Queen
Ypolita pleads to Duke Theseus to spare two knights).

Also known as Lionel of Antwerp, the third son
of King Edward III and Queen Philippa was born
in 1338. He married Elizabeth, Countess of
Ulster, in 1342. In 1357, Chaucer became a page in Lionel's
household, and in 1359 he served under Lionel in one of the Black Prince's military campaigns in France.
In 1360, Lionel paid Chaucer for running a mission to Calais
(he had carried some letters from France to England). Elizabeth died in
1363, and in 1368 Lionel married Violante, the niece of the Milan
despot Bernabo Visconti. Their wedding
was an elaborate occasion attended by many important political figures.
Lionel died that same year in Alba Pompeia, Piedmont (Italy).

In 1377 Richard, son of the Black Prince, came to the throne at the age
of ten (upon the death of his grandfather Edward
III). Richard's mother Joan of Kent was
an influential figure in his early years. The first major crisis of his
reign was the Peasants' Revolt of 1381
and the young monarch met the challenge: He managed to calm the mob at
Smithfield, showing remarkable bravery and self-control. Richard was
an avid patron of the arts (click the image on the left to see the
Wilton
Diptych) and both he and his wife Anne
were patrons of Chuacer's work (see this famous manuscript illustration
of Chaucer reading aloud to their court). From 1378 onward, Richard
also
gave Chaucer a 20 pound annuity. It was also during Richard's reign
that
Chaucer served in a variety of public offices: He was a diplomat,
Controller
of Customs, and Clerk of the King's Works. Richard's reign took a turn
after
the death of his beloved
wife Anne in 1394; he became absolutist, arbitrarily violent, and
(by some accounts) tyrannical. In 1396 Richard married Isabella of
Valois (6 years old at the time) who, according to tradition, cried
and screamed the entire journey from France to England. Their marriage
produced no children. In 1399, Richard was finally deposed by Henry Bolingbroke (later Henry IV) and some
historians say Richard was murdered at Pontefract Castle in 1400.

The woman most commonly known as Katherine
Swynford was the elder sister of Chaucer's wife Philippa. Born Katherine
Roet
(c. 1350), she was the eldest daughter of Paen (Payne) de Roet.
Sometime around 1366, she married an English knight Hugh Swynford.
After Hugh's death, she entered the household of John
of Gaunt, where she acted as a governess for John's two daughters
by his first
wife Blanche. Eventually Katherine
became John's mistress, and it was not until many years after the
death of John's second wife Constance
that she finally got to marry him. Katherine died in 1403. Judy Perry
has a website devoted to Katherine's life.

Known to history as a cruel despot and tyrant,
Bernabo Visconti was born in 1363 and grew to become the ruler of
Milan. He was a member of the Visconti family, a group of wealthy
absolutist rulers known for orchestrating poisonings, tortures, and
assassinations. In The Monk's Tale,
Chaucer writes of the "grete Barnabo Viscounte [of Melan]...God of
delit, and scourge of Lumbardye" (2399-400). In 1378, Chaucer traveled
to Lombardy to meet
with Bernabo and his son-in-law Sir John
Hawkwood (the captain of English mercenaries in Italy), but the
objective
of the meeting is unknown. Bernabo was ultimately murdered by his
nephew
in 1385. For more on the Visconti, see David Wallace, Chaucerian Polity
(Stanford, 1997), pp. 39-45, 319-229.

Chaucer resided above the
gate of Aldgate from 1374 to 1386. Rolls and deeds from Chaucer's day
indicate that a wide variety of people lived and worked in this
neighborhood
of London, including "fishmongers, butchers,
potters, bakers, chandlers, goldbeaters, goldsmiths...vintners,
saddlers...brewers, hatters, spurriers, cooks, janitors...armourers,
tapicers...merchants, moneyers, clerks, mediciners, and chaplains"
(Crow and Olson, Chaucer Life-Records,
pg. 147). In times of crisis the atmosphere here was often tense. At
certain points in the Hundred Years' War,
for instance, soldiers guarded Aldgate and kept a curfew. When the Peasants' Revolt broke out in 1381, rebels
broke into London's city walls through Aldgate--an alderman had opened
the gate (Crow and Olson, pp. 146-7).

The coastal town of Calais, located across the
English Channel in what is now northwestern France, actully belonged to
England during Chaucer's lifetime. During the Hundred Years' War, the English laid
siege to the city. The siege began in September 1346 and was long and
harsh. In its eleventh month, Edward III
offered to
spare the inhabitants of Calais if six of its most respected citizens
would
hand over the keys to the town and surrender to him. When the six
burghers
arrived at the English camp, Edward's wife Philippa
begged him to have mercy and he gave in. The burghers were allowed to
return to the city unharmed and the siege ended. Edward then exiled the
town's citizens and repopulated it with English people. For years
Calais was an "English island" on the Continent, serving as the origin
for English forays into French territory. In 1360, Chaucer traveled to
Calais (carrying letters back to England for Prince Lionel); he also
might have passed through Calais on one of his many trips to the
Continent. Calais was ultimately taken back by the French in 1558. For
more on Calais see David Wallace, Premodern
Places (Blackwell, 2004), Chapter 1.

Located in what is present-day Devon in the
southwestern corner of England, Dartmouth was an important seaport town
and trading center in Chaucer's day. Sailors and merchants often came
through Dartmouth on their way back and forth from journeys abroad. In
the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer hints at
the rivalry between sailors and merchants. The Shipman "of Dertemouthe"
has stolen "many a draughte of wyn" while merchants lay asleep in his
ship (398-9, 396-7). The Merchant, in turn, wants the sea protected
from piracy: "He wolde the see were kept for anythyng" (276). Chaucer
himself traveled to Dartmouth in 1373 to return a tarit (ship) back to
its master (a merchant from Genoa).

Flanders (Vlaanderen
in Dutch) is a region of the Northern Europe that is now part of
present-day Belgium and the Netherlands. During the late Middle Ages,
it was one of the most commercialized regions on the Continent, with
major trade centers in Antwerp, Bruges (Brugge), Ghent (Gent),
and Ypres (Ieper). The region had an especially strong cloth and
textile industry; these towns imported wool from other areas and wove
the raw material into a variety of goods for trade abroad. Chaucer
traveled to Flanders sometime between 1377 and 1381, and his work
abounds with references to the region. In the General Prologue to The
Canterbury Tales, for instance, the Merchant sports "a Flaundryssh
bever hat" (272), and the Wife of Bath "hadde swich an haunt of
clooth-makyng" that she "passed hem of Ypres and of Gaunt" (447-8). The
Pardoner's Tale is set
in "Flaundres," and the merchant of the Shipman's Tale goes to "Brugges" on
a business trip. Many Flemish immigrants in London
were weavers, and Chaucer (as a customs official for the city) oversaw
the export tax on wool. For more on Flanders see David Wallace, Premodern Places (Blackwell, 2004),
Chapter 2.

Often called the birthplace of the Italian
Renaissance, Florence (Firenze in Italian)
was a prosperous and powerful city in Chaucer's day; its own gold
currency the florin (click the image on the left) was used in
transactions across Europe. The city had a strong republican (that is,
anti-aristocratic) ethos. In 1345, for instance, the city's ciompi
(wool combers) went on strike and in 1348 they rebelled against
aristocratic rule. The Florentine vision of government contrasted that
of Lombardy, where absolutist regimes
consolidated power in the will of a single militaristic ruler. Chaucer
visited Florence in 1372 (to negotiate a loan for King
Edward III) and he went to Lombardy in 1378. For more on Chaucer's
visits to Florence and Lombardy (and how Italy informed his writing),
see David Wallace, Chaucerian Polity
(Stanford, 1997), pp. 9-64.

Genoa (Genova in Italian, Zena in
Genoese) is seaport town located in what is now Northern Italy. In the
fourteenth century, it was a powerful independent republic. The Genoese
were avid seafarers, traders, and merchants (click the image on the
left for more information) and they had colonies in Sicily, Sardinia,
North Africa, the Middle East, and the Black Sea. The republic also
possesssed the entire island of Corsica. In 1372, Chaucer traveled to
Genoa to discuss setting up a seaport in England for the use of Genoese
merchants. The Genoese also controlled the Mediterranean slave trade,
and in 1373 Chaucer was
sent to Dartmouth to deliver a Genoese ship
back
to its master (a Genoese merchant). For more on the Genoa and the slave
trade, see David Wallace, Chaucerian
Polity (Stanford, 1997), pp. 20-2; see also his most recent
work, Premodern Places
(Blackwell, 2004), Chapter 4.

From 1385 to 1389, Chaucer served as Justice of
the Peace for the County of Kent (in the southeastern corner of
England); he gave up his residence at Aldgate
in 1386 and probably relocated to Kent, where he also served as a
knight
of the shire (i.e., a member of parliament). Life in this area might
not
have been as busy as it was in urban London, but
the
region was not without importance. In Chaucer's day, a group of towns
along
what is now the Kent coastline was often King
Edward
III's first defense against foreign raids and invasions. Click the
image on the left for more information.

In 1378, Chaucer traveled
to Lombardy (a region of what is now northern Italy) on a diplomatic
mission. He met with Bernabo Visconti,
the despot of Milan (the capital of the present-day province of
Lombardy). In
Chaucer's day, this region of Italy was well-known for its absoultst
rulers.
In the Prologue to The Legend of Good Women, Chaucer comments
on the notoriety of Lombard tyrants: "This shulde a ryghtwys lord han
in
his thought,/And not been lyk tyraunts of Lumbardye,/That usen
wilfulhed and tyrannye" (G-Text, 353-5). Chaucer's Clerk's Tale and Merchant's Tale both take place in
"Lumbardye." For more on Chaucer and Lombardy, see David Wallace, Chaucerian Polity (Stanford, 1997),
pp. 9-64, 261-98.

Chaucer came from a family of London vintners
(wine merchants), and from 1374 to 1386 he resided above Aldgate, a mercantile neighborhood of the
city. In his role as the Controller of Customs for London, Chaucer
monitored
the export tax (customs) on sheepskin, leather, and wool. As the Clerk
of the King's Works, he oversaw construction projects, including
repairs
at the Tower of London. Chaucer's urban, mercantile background informs
many of his works. In The Miller's
Tale, for instance, Chaucer compares the shining of a woman's
face to a coin newly minted in the Tower of London (click the coin on
the left for more). The Cook's Tale--a
lewd story about an unruly apprentice--takes place "in oure citee"
(i.e., London). For more on medieval London, see Chaucer and the City, ed. Ardis
Butterfield (Boydell & Brewer, 2006).

Not very much is known about Chaucer's travels
in Spain. In 1955 Suzanne Honore-Duverge unearthed
a document, dated May 1366, in which the King of Navarre granted safe
conduct for Geoffrey Chaucer, English esquire ("Geffroy de Chauserre
escuier englois") to visit Spain (see Crow and Olson, Chaucer Life-Records, pp. 64-6).
Jesus Serrano Reyes has an entire website devoted to the relationship
between Chaucer
and Spain. The website contains articles pointing out numerous
references to Spain and Spanish literature in Chaucer's
writing. It is interesting to note that the Black
Prince, John of Gaunt, and Philippa Chaucer all had some sort of
connection to Spain as well (either through Pedro
of Castile or Constance of Castile).

Built in the eleventh century, Westminster Abbey
has served an important function in London life
for many years. William the Conqueror was the first English monarch to
be crowned in the Abbey, and coronations of
English monarchs have taken place there ever since. As Clerk of the
King's
Works, Chaucer oversaw various construction projects at Westminster
Palace;
a year before his death he was granted a tenament in the garden of Lady
Chapel
(at the Abbey itself). When Chaucer died in 1400, he was laid to rest
in
the Abbey. Over the years the area around Chaucer's tomb came to be
known
as Poets' Corner; many other famous writers and literary figures have
since been laid to rest there.

One of the pivotal combats in the Hundred Years' War took place on August
26, 1346, at Crecy (in what is now northern France). In this
battle, the English forces (led by the Black
Prince) were greatly outnumbered by their opponents (French knights
and Genoese mercenaries). However, the English
defeated their foes through the use of a new "secret weapon," the
longbow. Compared to the conventional crossbows the French and the
Genoese were using, the English longbows had a greater range and a more
rapid rate of fire. As the French and Genoese forces charged, the
English were able to rain volleys of arrows upon them. For a more
detailed account of the battle, see this excerpt from Jean Froissart's Chronicles.

Also known as the Battle of Navarette (located
in present-day Spain), this conflict took place in Februrary
of 1367. In this battle, the Black Prince
and
his brother John of Gaunt joined forces
with Pedro of Castille against Henry
of Trastamara and his allies. Pedro, the King of Castile and Leon, had
been deposed by Henry (his illegitimate half-brother). Pedro went to
England
to seek support for regaining his kingdom, and the Black Prince
(apparently
angered that anyone would dare depose a monarch) joined forces with
him.
The English soldiers' longbows proved superior to their opponents'
crossbows
(as they had in the Battle of Crecy),
and Henry's forces were defeated. Pedro regained the crown after this
battle,
but only for a while; Henry killed him in 1369.

On September 19, 1356, a major turning point in
the Hundred Years' War occured during
a clash between French and English troops at Poitiers (in central
France): The Black Prince, leader of the
English
forces, captured the French King John (Jean) and took him hostage. The
English
Army had been laying waste to the land, and French forces decided to
attack
them in order to prevent any further damage. However, the English
archers
proved a formidable challenge to the French and in the ensuing
confusion of
battle the French King was isolated and intercepted. King John remained
in
captivity in England and ultimately died there in 1364. You can find a
more
detailed account of the battle in the Chronicles of Jean Froissart.

King Edward III
personally commanded the English forces at this sea battle, which took
place off the coast of Sluys (Ecluse, in French) on June 24,
1340.
According to some sources, the English were greatly outnumbered; by the
time the battle ended, almost the entire French fleet was destroyed.
This
naval victory--the first major one for English in the Hundred Years' War--not only increased
the King's popularity, but it also secured England's control of the
Channel for
years to come. Edward commemorated his victory at Sluys by introducing
a
new form of currency into England: the gold noble.

The Hundred Years' War (which actually lasted
116 years) was a series of armed conflicts between England and France
over a variety of issues: England's land holdings on the Continent, the
control of the lucrative wool trade of Flanders,
and (ultimately) Edward III's claim to the
French throne through his mother Isabella. The war began in 1337 when
Edward formally announced his claim to the French throne. During the
early years of the war, Edward gained control over the English Channel,
won the Battle of Sluys (1340), and (along
with the Black Prince) emerged victorious
at the battles of Crecy (1346) and Poitiers (1356). Edward also captured Calais, which remained in England's possession
until 1558. Around 1360, English power on the Continent began to fade
and there were intermittent periods of peace; in 1453 England ended its
pursuit of its claims in France. To read more about the war, see these
excerpts from the Chronicles of Jean Froissart.

A variety of factors led to the rebellion known
as the Peasants' Revolt (or the English Rising): high taxation due to
the Hundred Years' War
with France, the unpopular nature of Richard II's
government, simmering tensions between lords and peasants, and
laborers' unmet demands for higher wages in the wake of the Black Death. Open rebellion finally broke out
in the summer of 1381 after the government imposed a new poll tax. In
the
revolt, thousands of rebels (mostly from Essex and Kent)
swarmed to London, executing the Archbishop of
Canterbury
and destroying the palaces of unpopular officials. The young King
Richard
II met the mob at Smithfield and calmed them down--even after the Mayor of London had slain their leader Wat Tyler--by
agreeing to meet many of their demands (one of them being the abolition
of serfdom altogether). After the rioters dispersed, Richard went back
on his word. For variety of perspectives on these events, see some medieval accounts of the uprising.

The Black Death was an outbreak of the bubonic
plague that devastated Europe in the fourteenth century. Scholars
estimate that the epidemic killed a third of the European population.
The plague first reached England in 1348 and it brought drastic changes
to society. Because the plague had greatly decreased the population,
laborers found that they were in great demand; thus they moved around
more freely in search of better wages. Historians often list the Black
Death as one
contributing factor to the Peasants' Revolt
of 1381. Although the cultural impact of the disease was huge, Chaucer
never
directly mentioned the Black Death in his work. Nonetheless, a
description
of a plague in The Pardoner's Tale
comes close: "a privee theef men clepeth
Deeth,/That in this contree al the peple sleeth...hath a thousand slayn
this pestilence" (675-9).